Swamp Things

unbelievable.
denise richards as high school tramp?
woman, you’re 30.

Actually, the movie’s not THAT bad. And Bill Murray’s pretty good. Still, it didn’t need to be 108 minutes long.

Wild Things in 90 Seconds. Actually pretty good. Also, NSFW: 

The final twist: There’s a “Wild Things 2″.

Another final twist!: There’s a “Wild Things 3″!

THE HORRIFYING FINAL TWIST!!!: They’re doing a re-make of the original “Wild Things”! AGGHH!!

So I was going to write a whole anti-Harper rant on Copenhagen today. But let’s face it, I don’t write as well as Margaret Atwood, Kim Campbell, Clayton Ruby, Mikhail Gorbachev, and a few dozen others.

Here, without further ado, is the letter they wrote Stephen Harper, courtesy of Power Up Canada:

Dear Prime Minister Harper,

As you know, Canada has come under considerable criticism in the lead-up to December’s United Nations’ climate change conference in Copenhagen.

We urge you to dispel the perception that Canada is being defeatist about prospects for tackling climate change and building a clean energy economy.

The world desperately needs middle powers like Canada to come together and galvanize the international process. As one of the world’s top ten greenhouse gas emitters and a large energy producer, Canada is uniquely positioned to play a key role.

Canada has an admirable history both as a leader and an honest broker on many important issues in international affairs. We urge you to recommit Canada to that international role on the pressing issue of climate change and to do everything possible to raise the negotiations to the level of importance and urgency demanded by the climate threat.

The next wave of productivity and innovation will come from building a low carbon economy. Countries around the world are racing to develop and deploy new ways to produce and use energy. Canada has much to gain from deploying solutions to climate change. Canada has unparalleled potential for the deployment of wind, ocean and other clean energy technologies and extensive expertise in hydroelectricity. Individual Canadian provinces have been leaders on clean energy, greenhouse gas reduction and carbon pricing policies.

Currently Canada does not have a consistent price signal or sustained national incentives for the deployment of clean energy. Recent studies by the UN and HSBC show that Canada lags the G20 in deploying green stimulus. Canada is missing the economic opportunity of the twenty-first century.

Prime Minister, we are at a historic juncture. We urge you to dispel perceptions of defeatism, to rally the Canadian people and to grasp the economic opportunities of the clean energy economy.

Signatories include:

Margaret Atwood, Author; Bill Becker, Executive Director, US Presidential Climate Action Project; Dr. Martin Beniston, Director of the University of Geneva Institute of Environmental Sciences and IPCC author; Tzeporah Berman, Executive Director PowerUP Canada; The Rt. Hon. Kim Campbell; Neve Campbell, Actor; John Coo, President Green Cross Canada; Jean-Michel Cousteau, Oceans Future President; Louise Dennys, Executive Vice-President, Random House of Canada/ Executive Publisher, The Knopf Random Canada Publishing Group; President Gorbachev, Founder Green Cross International; Luc Hardy, Venture Capitalist; Dr. Thomas Homer-Dixon, Author; Carl Honore, Journalist and Author; Dr. Mark Jaccard, Environmental economist & IPCC author; Adam Koniuszewski, COO Green Cross International, Climate Change Task Force Project Leader; Adam Kreek, Canadian Olympic Gold Medalist; James Hoggan, author of Climate Cover-Up; David Hughes, President, Global Sustainability Research Inc; Avrim Lazar, CEO Forest Products Association of Canada; Hunter Lovins, President & Founder, Natural Capitalism Solutions; Yann Martel, Author; Prof. Mohan Munasinghe, Vice Chair IPCC-AR4; Sarah Murphy, Pfizer Canada; Joanne Photiades, Senior Manager BDC the Development Bank of Canada; Dr. John Polanyi, Professor of Chemistry, University of Toronto. Nobel Laureate (1986); John Roy, Founder, RoyComm Group; Clayton Ruby, CM LLD, Canadian Lawyer; Caroline Tison, Executive Director, West Island Community Shares; Dr. Andrew Weaver, Climate Scientist & IPPC author; Bruce Westwood, Founder, Westwood Creative Artists; Ronald Wright, Author and Massey Lecturer.

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Scream 2 is a 1997 horror thriller film, the second part of the Scream trilogy. This movie takes place one year after the original. As with the other films in the trilogy, Scream 2 combines straight-forward scares with dialogue that satirizes conventions of slasher films, especially (in this case) slasher film sequels.

Scream 2

Trivia:

• Not only was the cast not informed who the killer was until the last Day of shooting, they also didn’t receive the last 10 pages of the script until it was time to film them. The last 10 pages were also printed on grey paper, therefore making them unable to be illicitly Xeroxed. All cast members had to sign contracts that they would not discuss the movie’s outcome or the killer’s identity with the media.
• Body count: 10
• In Scream, Sydney laments that with her luck, she’d be portrayed by Tori Spelling if her story were ever filmed. In Stab, the film-within-a-film in Scream 2, Tori Spelling does in fact play Sydney.
• Cameo: [Wes Craven] man in the background at the hospital.
• Cameo: [Kevin Williamson] Cotton’s interviewer on T.V.
• Cameo: [Matthew Lillard] Co-star of the original Scream is in the background at the frat party.
• Liev Schreiber’s dog (terrier) has a cameo in the film. A female co-ed leads him in front of the crowd that goes to investigate after news of Cici’s murder.
• Most of the outdoor scene are filmed at Agnes Scott College, a women’s college in Atlanta, Georgia.
• “Dewey’s Theme” and other bits of the score are actually taken from the Broken Arrow (1996) soundtrack by Hans Zimmer. Later Score Soundtrack releases for Scream 2 feature Belltrami’s score, although it was not used in the film.
• There are several references to actors from “Friends” (1994) which stars ‘Courtney Cox’. Gale says that the nude photos of her that were put on the internet are fakes, and that the body is that of Jennifer Aniston. Also, We learn that in Stab, Dewey is played by ‘David Schwimmer’.
• Though in most films, phone voices are recorded later, director Wes Craven actually had the voice of the killer on set, to heighten the sense of fear for the actors. According to ‘Roger L. Jackson’, who plays the voice, he was kept on set but always out of sight from the actors, so they couldn’t picture a face with the voice. He said while watching the monitors, he could see between takes that Heather Graham looked a little scared, whereas Sarah Michelle Gellar would pick up the phone and carry on a conversation with him.
• Gail’s mention of doctored internet photos is also a reference to an incident that actually happened to ‘Courteney Cox’ in the mid-1990s.
• Paulette Patterson, who plays the usher who hands masks to Maureen and Phil, won her role in a contest sponsored by MTV.
• Eric Mabius, Natasha Gregson Wagner, and Paula Marshall all auditioned for roles.
• The Gothic statues in the film aren’t Agnes Scott campus features; they were put there for the film and guarded by a watchman. Students on the campus for summer events were told not to mess with the statues, but at least once the statues were dressed up and decorated by mischievous students who evaded the watchman.
• Officers Richards and Andrews are named after Kyle Richards and Brian Andrews, the two child actors that Jamie Lee Curtis babysat in the original Halloween.
• The girl that Cici talks to on the phone before the killer calls is Selma Blair.
• The third rule to surviving a sequel is cut from the movie, but is shown in the trailer. “”And #3. Never, ever under any circumstance assume that the killer is dead.”
• The tagline for “Stab” (the movie within the movie) is, “This is Gonna Hurt”.
• The plot twists were all a matter of top secrecy throughout production. The screenplay was heavily guarded and restricted to only the most crucial personnel. Certainly none of the cast knew how the film ended as the last 10 pages were withheld from them. Consequently when an early screenplay draft was leaked onto the Internet, revealing the intended identity of Ghostface, Kevin Williamson was forced to do some hasty rewrites. This meant that the film went into production without a completed script.
• Earned one third of its total gross of $101.3 million in its opening weekend.
• The rules for a horror movie sequel – as laid out by Randy in the film – are (1) the body count is always bigger and (2) the death scenes are always much more elaborate with more blood and gore.
• The killer’s comments when Omar Epps overhears him in the bathroom stall next to him are directly inspired by the killer in Black Christmas (1974).
• The film’s working title was “The Sequel to Scream”.
• Released less than a year after Scream (1996/I).
• A number of sequences in Kevin Williamson’s screenplay simply read “Wes will make it scary”.
• Any actor auditioning for the part of Derek had to perform the scene in the cafeteria where he sings “I Think I Love You” without accompaniment.
• Sarah Michelle Gellar signed on for the movie before even reading the script
• When we first see CiCi (Sarah Michelle Gellar) alone in the sorority house and on the phone with her friend, she says “They aren’t going out anymore, Sarah broke up with Bailey when she found out he slept with Gwen.” Sarah, Bailey and Gwen were all characters on “Party of Five” (1994), which Neve Campbell starred in for 6 years.
• In the trailer and TV spots, the scene where Sidney talks to the killer for the first time on the Lamda house phone is altered. In the trailers, the killer replies to her question with “It’s time, girlfriend!” In the theatrical version, he says “I want you. It’s show time.”
• The idea of a sequel came up when writer Kevin Williamson was writing the script for _Scream (1996)_, feeling there was more to the story.
• Started filming just 6 months after it’s predecessor _Scream (1996)_ was released.

Wait, some of you might be thinking. Who is Robin Tunney?

Robin Tunney; image courtesy of tvdramas.about.com

I think Tunney was slated to be a star when she started cropping up in movies in the 1990s. While stardom didn’t happen for her, she’s had steady work, currently starring on The Mentalist, a CBS procedural. She was supposed to co-write a book on feminism with her friend Liz Phair, with whom she worked on the movie Cherish. I’m still waiting for that last one.

For many in my age group, we know her from back-to-back appearances in Empire Records and The Craft. As both movies were slumber party staples in my friend group, featured teen girl characters, and were accompanied by popular soundtracks, I knew I’d need to revisit them.

Empire Records came out in 1995 and developed a bit of a cult following, despite poor reviews and a dismal box office performance. It also instilled a personal desire to work at a record store, particularly an indie fighting to stay that way. At 13, it looked so cool and fun to “work” all day at such a place with hip teens and twentysomethings.

Well, maybe not them specifically, as the characters in Empire Records aren’t believeable as people so much as underwritten Generation X versions of cool kids dreamt up by a team of movie executives: there’s Joe, the anti-establishment boomer-era owner (Anthony LaPaglia); Lucas, the Zen-like hipster (Rory Cochrane); A.J., the sensitive artist in love with the unattainable Corey (Johnny Whitworth); Corey, the wholesome speed freak perfectionist (Liv Tyler); Gina, Corey’s slutty best friend who wants to be in a band (Renée Zellweger); Mark, the stoner (Ethan Embry); Berko, the rocker who clocks in between gigs (Coyote Shivers, who was married to Tyler’s legendary mother Bebe Buell at the time); and Debra, the rebel girl accountant who shaves her head after attempting suicide (Tunney).

Oh, they are so selling out; image courtesy of chartrigger.blogspot.com

The writing is the movie’s biggest problem, though I’ll never understand why casting directors thought someone as boring as Tyler would ever be a huge star (I’d ask this question again later in the decade when Katie Holmes started landing movie roles). The motivations of the characters, though meant to be read as young and madcap, are childish and inconsistent. The boys pine after girls, eat pizza, get high, and glue quarters to the floor. The girls pine after has-been teen idols doing in-stores, alternate between loving and hating each other, and get together with the boys who pine after them. Both sexes deliver such profound lines like “If I can love her in that skirt, than this must really be it” and “I went to rock and roll heaven, and I wasn’t on the guest list.”

That second line is the answer given to a question about bandaged wrists. It’s delivered to withering effect by Debra, potentially the movie’s most interesting character. She’s not glamourous like her female co-workers or sophomoric like her male colleagues. She also seems to have gone through real pain, deeper than the surface angst used to promote OK Soda and perhaps closer to the actual pain brought on by parental neglect and low self-esteem. In the early 1990s, these and other issues were particularly relevant to young girls, some of whom would form or discover riot grrl and queercore and develop their own queer and/or feminist identities. We only get a sense of Debra’s absent mother, resistent intellect, boredom with men, feelings of inadequacy, and the hope for something better.

Note: I’d recommend watching director Allan Moyle’s far-superior Times Square. Rest assured that the tale of two girl runaways falling in love amidst downtown New York’s early-80s squalor will get its due on this blog.   

It’s weird that slashed wrists bridge Tunney’s two major performances to date. Clearly suicide, perhaps most unfortunately personified by Kurt Cobain, was on young people’s minds at the time. I’d hedge that this has more to do with class frustration, racial injustice, conflicted feelings about sexual orientation, coming out to unsupportive families and communities, dysfunctional home lives, and a lack of any real support system. I’d also add that it’s an on-going problem.

Absent mothers also connect Debra and Sarah, the latter of whom lost her mother during childbirth. As The Craft was originally pitched as “Carrie meets Clueless,” it seems necessary to point out that these movies feature girls with compromised mother-daughter relationships. Carrie’s mother is a crazed witch. Cher Horowitz, like so many other fairytale heroines before her, lost her mother at an early age and has only an idealized memory of her. Sarah has similar baggage, along with the additional burden of being responsible for her mother’s death. Oh, and carrying on the ability to perform witchcraft. That’s a hell of a lot for any teenage girl to shoulder, especially when she’s moving to Los Angeles with her family.     

A heartening aspect of The Craft , no doubt motivated by how successful Clueless was, is the presence of girlfriends. Sarah meets shy Bonnie (played by Neve Campbell) and becomes friends with a trio of Goth girls. Two other movies came out in 1996 that focused on girl gangs – Girls Town and Foxfire. For a more nuanced analysis of these two movies and their depictions of homosociality and developing feminist politics, I highly recommend checking out my friend Kristen’s thesis Revenge, Girl Style. 

The Craft entertains the progressive potential of girl friendship, particularly for outcasts. There are also hints at the queer possibilities of homosocial bonding and witchcraft. It even contains racially charged moments, particularly when Rochelle (played by Rachel True), the coven’s lone African American member, casts a spell on Laura Lizzie (Christine Taylor), a popular blonde who is on the swim team with her. After enduring Lizzie’s racist comments about her hair, Rochelle turns her bald, thus rebelling against normative, white-centric notions of feminine beauty. 

But these suggestions are sidelined. Because what the movie is really about is the battle between Tunney’s kind-hearted Sarah and Fairuza Balk’s destructive ringleader Nancy, who is jealous of her frenemy’s natural aptitude for witchcraft. It should also be noted that Nancy is working-class and coded as queer. The movie makes a considerable effort to undo her queerness, putting men in between her and Sarah, whether they be ex-boyfriends or Manon, the supernatural male figure that the girls worship. The movie ends with Nancy trying to kill Sarah, resulting in a showdown that tears the group apart, causes Sarah to move, and leads to Nancy being institutionalized. The final shot is of Nancy in a straight-jacket trying to fly out of a padded cell. The movie’s message: we are the weirdos, mister. Just don’t expect us to stay friends or keep a hold of our sanity. So much for sisterhood.

Nancy's farewell; image courtesy of channel4.com

Sisterhood is often lacking in movies, but is emphasized to market teen movies, if only to tap in to the girl market. But much of this was eclipsed in story development to make way for more lucrative prospects, none more pronounced at the time than the soundtrack. A considerable number of American teen movies in the 1990s featured a soundtrack, many boasting songs by alternative rock artists. Unlike The Craft and Empire Records, and more in line with All Over Me, Girls Town and Foxfire paid particular attention toward showcasing female artists, particularly those closely associated with hip hop and the then-waning riot grrrl movement. Scholars like Jeff Smith and Mary Celeste Kearney have addressed this in their work, theorizing that the soundtrack served as a way to cultivate potential audience markets and a source of textual identification for fans.

While female artists are present on the soundtracks to Empire Records and The Craft, they’re not the focus, perhaps out of fear of alienating a broader audience. This might further explain why The Craft soundtrack features covers of popular songs from lesser-known acts. Our Lady Peace contributes a version of The Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows,” Heather Nova covers Peter Gabriel’s “I Have the Touch,” and Letters To Cleo take on The Cars’ “Dangerous Type,” a tactic they’d repeat when covering Cheap Trick’s “I Want You To Want Me” for 10 Things I Hate About You at the end of the decade. And let’s not forget the double-nostalgia of former Psychelic Furs’ front man Richard Butler covering The Smiths’ “How Soon Is Now” with his post-Furs project Love Spit Love. 

Cover to "The Craft" soundtrack (Sony, 1996); image courtesy of thesoundtracktoyourlife.co.uk

A major problem both of these movies share, and is evident in other titles of this period and in the Brat Pack movies of the 1980s, is the need to broadly define its characters as members of a generation, rather than as complex young people with particular problems oftentimes informed by their identities. And while ennui and an ironic fluency in popular culture were markers for Gen X, these young adults were more than just sneering (white) kids in flannel, combat boots, and barettes. At least off-camera.

Oftentimes, they were frustrated by how little high school and a liberal arts education could get them in a job market, particularly during the late 1980s and early 1990s when the economy had yet to recover from the 1987 market crash. They were annoyed at the shrine their parents built to the 1960s, as it was clear just how empty and hollow their promises of revolution were. In some ways, they were no different than people my age or boomer hipster Paul Kinsey on Mad Men, turning to interesting records, movies, books, and TV shows, but knowing they wouldn’t make them any happier, politically mobile, or economically viable.

Michael Gladis as Paul Kinsey, proving the every generation has its hipster; image courtesy of readingunderthecovers.blogspot.com

Some of these people formed bands, often annointed with glossy but unremarkable one-word monikers: Sponge, Drill, Lustre, Cracker, Elastica, Spacehog, Dig, Hole, Belly, Hum, Bush, Toadies, Oasis . . . In a particularly cruel example of market imperative, many of these bands broke up or were without major label record deals by the end of the decade.

I still have Elastica's debut album!; image courtesy of forgottenfavorite.com

But it’s hard to convey all of this in a 90-minute movie, especially one that hopes to cash in on the wages of the very demographic these popcorn flicks were hoping to represent. Some did a decent job of conveying this generation’s ambivalence, particularly indies like Kicking and Screaming. I’d also add that Reality Bites highlights these problems, even pointing out the crass ways in which corporate America capitalizes on the very market its created. While I wish Winona Ryder’s filmmaker character Lalaina didn’t end up with Ethan Hawke’s slacker Troy, I understand why she can’t be with Michael (played by director Ben Stiller), who works for an MTV-type network that makes worm’s meat out of her documentary about her friends. 

Richard Linklater’s second feature, Dazed and Confused, did a considerable job at suggesting that Generation X inherited their sense of slacker frustration (and detached nostalgia for Schoolhouse Rock and The Brady Bunch) from their parents. That Linklater cast a bunch of twentysomething unknowns like Joey Lauren Adams, Ben Affleck, Rory Cochrane, Adam Goldberg, Jason London, Matthew McConaughey, Parker Posey, and Marisa Ribisi to essentially play the teenagers and young adults who would become their parents may strengthen Robin Wood’s argument that Dazed is a horror film. 

Some television shows also did a good job articulating the nuances of the slacker era. I’d offer up British programs like Spaced, along with MTV’s Daria and ABC’s My So-Called Life. The latter featured an angsty girl protagonist, complex teenage characters, depicted boomer parents being just as clueless and angsty as their brood, and created an immortal stoner heartthrob named Jordan Catalano (played by Jared Leto), whose band Frozen Embryos changed their name at the end of the series to perhaps the most perfect of Gen X band names: Residue.

Angela Chase (Claire Danes) with the object of her affection; image courtesy of thefbomb.org

But it’s always different for girls, and unfortunate that Tunney and many of the actresses of her generation were not given the consideration they deserved (though I love that Austin Chronicle writer Margaret Moser fancies herself as being like Balk’s character in Almost Famous). Some may attribute this to their flat delivery or lack of believability, but I’d wager that this has more to do with poor character development on the part of screenwriters and the industrial emphasis on youth than it does on the actresses. At 19, Kristen Stewart is playing the slouched-shoulder ingenue of a multi-million-dollar film franchise, its latest installment complete with a soundtrack featuring of-the-moment, indie and indie-friendly artists like Bon Iver, St. Vincent, Lykke Li, Grizzly Bear, and Thom Yorke. I only hope she has that sort of star power at 25.

Kristen Stewart at the "New Moon" premiere in Los Angeles; image courtesy of justjared.buzznet.com

Neve Campbell speaks on the latest for “Scream 4″. She says now the original cast is officially signed on, they still need to wait for a script to come in. So this means the plot and synopsis for “Scream 4″ hasn’t been released to the public just yet.

I’m sure everyone is curious to see what the 4th one will be about. I’m also curious.

More on it here:

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/15772/neve-campbell-talks-fourth-scream-

Kev

BlackBook agarró a Neve Campbell y ésta le platico sobre sus siguientes proyectos por venir, incluyendo a “Scream 4”

Campbell dijo “es bastante seguro de que en esta etapa, Wes Craven estará de vuelta para dirigirla y Kevin Williamson definitivamente escribirá Scream 4. Va a ser grandioso”.

Al hablar sobre sus compañeros David Arquette y Courteney Cox comentó “No les he hablado ya desde hace un rato. Estoy segura de que los tuvieron que convencer un buen para que tomaran parte de nuevo en esta película especialmente ya que ahora son una familia muy feliz y por supuesto, ha sido una larga jornada para ellos. Creo que va a ser muy divertida, algo así como regresar al campamento de verano”.

Neve Campbell dijo también de que la filmación comenzará a mediados de abril. “Estoy bien feliz de que todos los que quedamos vivos en la 1, 2 y 3 ya hemos firmado para hacerla”.

Neve Campbell

Fuente: vivacity.pe

Acabo de leer en la web de 20minutos, que va a haber una cuarta temporada de lo que según yo tenía entendido…, iba a ser una trilogía…

Este es el enlace de la noticia, para que sepáis lo mismo que yo:

http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/571815/0/courteney-cox/david-arquette/scream/

No sé qué tal estará, pero espero que no lo estropeeen, porque Scream, ha sido de las más entretenidas que han hecho últimamente.

Soy una gran aficionada al cine de miedo, y, aunque no digo que no hubiera a veces exceso de sangre también.  No es tan gore (vísceras, y todo eso) como lo que se viene haciendo últimamente.

Vamos, para que os hagáis una idea, mi peli favorita es “El exorcista” (hablando de género de terror, claro )

Venga, cuando me entere de más cositas, os cuento

Salu2

Yo tenía mis dudas sobre si 2012 de Roland Emmerich iba a ser un éxito en taquilla, pero lo ha sido a nivel mundial, más de 200 millones en todo el mundo en su primer fin de semana, haciendo sólo en Estados Unidos más de 65 millones. Así que no podemos negar el éxito de la película que retrata el fin del mundo, y que yo me muero de ganas por ver, y que todavía no he podido. De todas formas, está claro que la próxima semana estas cifras se igualarán o se aumentarán (esta última opción la más factible) por la saga Crepúsculo: Luna Nueva, que se estrena hoy en España, y el viernes en el resto del mundo.

Dejando las recaudaciones, es hora de hablar de dos 4 partes en marcha. Una muy clara y la otra aunque se lleva diciendo desde hace tiempo, hasta que no la vea no me lo creo. Estaba claro de la existencia de Spiderman 4. Hay muchos rumores sobre los villanos a los que se enfrentará el héroe. El rumor que ha saltado últimamente es que habrán varios malos, y uno podría ser La gata negra, personaje al que opta Rachel McAdams (El Diario de Noa, Vuelo Nocturno). Y la otra es, atención, Scream 4. Mi saga de terror favorita vuelve a la carga, no con una 4 película, sino que con una trilogía entera (o sea, 4, 5 y 6) si sigue teniendo éxito. Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox y David Arquette repiten.

No puedo seguir sin decir esta curiosidad, habrá un cameo en la película del Equipo A de uno de los miembros de la banda de la popular serie. El actor Dwight Schultz (Murdock), aparecerá en la película haciendo un cameo. Recordar que la película, está protagonizada por Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Jessica Biel y Sharlto Copely (que interpreta a Murdock).

Antes de que se estrene su nueva cinta (Invictus), Clint Eastwood ya está rodando la siguiente, se trata de Hereafter, que se ha descrito como una película con elementos sobrenaturales, y estará protagonizada (al igual que Invictus) por Matt Damon.

El nuevo proyecto de Andy García como director es un biopic sobre Hemingway al que Anthony Hopkins, le dará vida. El propio García y Annette Bening le acompañan en la cinta que se llamará “Hemingway and Fuentes”.

El spin off se Shrek ya tiene fecha de estreno. En noviembre de 2011, El gato con botas verá la luz. La cinta protagonizada por el personaje salido de Shrek contará con la voz original de la saga, Antonio Banderas, al que le acompañará Salma Hayek.

Y por último, si empezamos con Roland Emmerich, vamos acabar con él, y con una noticia sorprendente. Anuncia que quiere hacer no una segunda parte, sino una tercera también de Independence Day. ¿Cómo os quedáis?

Some of you may recognize our title this month. Does it take you back to the late 60s and early 70s, when America’s youthful males were obsessed with gas guzzling muscle cars, and had high hopes that the girl of their dreams would fast become a woman during their courtship?

America’s young people were edging towards a growing idealistic counter-culture, and during that era, The Beach Boys were the pre-eminent American music group.

Their songs focused on the nearly eternal sunny days of Southern California, surfing, and the pursuit of fun.

In the album Today, which was released in 1965, and was on the best seller charts for 50 weeks, they did a cover of the Bobby Freeman song, Do You Wanna Dance?

Do you wanna dance and hold my hand
Tell me baby, I’m your lover man
Oh baby, do you wanna dance?
Do you wanna dance under the moonlight
Squeeze me, squeeze me baby, all through the night
Oh baby, Do you wanna dance?
Well, do you, do you, do you, do you wanna dance…

In the same album, there was another tune, this one penned by Beach Boy Brian Wilson, called Dance, Dance, Dance.

Dance dance dance — now the beat’s really hot
Dance dance dance — right there on the spot…

These lyrics weren’t really about dancing. No, the real meaning stemming from these lyrics was the desire to love and be loved while you were having fun. But while all this hand holding and tight squeezing was going on, other people took a serious interest in dance. For them it was something other than a prelude to a lot of heavy breathing, fumbling, and groping in the back seat of the family sedan, borrowed from Dad under the condition of getting it home safe by midnight.

These people became ‘dancers’. Whether they aimed to be hoofers on Broadway, or chorus boys, or prima ballerinas, they were passionate about this art form, and dead serious about their futures.

But most of the rest of us took no notice of ballet, deeming it either too boring or incomprehensible, or worse — an activity where effeminate men pranced around in tights, lifting bone-thin women into the air, that is, when these women were not running around on the stage, trying to stand on their pointed toes, to music that was sure to put you to sleep.

Thirty years after the Beach Boys crooned these tunes, comedian Jackie Mason appeared on a Broadway stage doing a one-man show. One of his monologues was about ‘The Ballet’.

Mason was careful to point out that this was indeed a serious art form, requiring years and years of practice; however, people went to it only to be seen by other people who also cared more about being noticed than actually watching the performance. Mason concluded that people might as well attend the ballet in their pajamas because they all were going to fall asleep anyway.

A few years back, I went to the movies to see The Company. We watched this film that laid bare all the grueling work and effort that go into being a ballet dancer.

Produced by Neve Campbell, and featuring the amazing dancers of the Joffrey Ballet, this was a terrific movie, visually quite exciting, and most informative, as well as providing us with a new perspective into the competitive world of dancing.

I was amazed at the athleticism required, and the beauty of the performers.

Morning Exercise

Chinese artist Guan Zeju is also fascinated by the ballet.

Ballet Beauties

Just look at the exquisite beauty of his many paintings portraying young ballerinas.

Bea

His magnificent works of art are breathtaking.

Dance of the Morning

His ability to combine the sunlit sylvan setting of nature with the light and airy spaces of the dance studios, provides the perfect backdrop for the private moments of the dancers.

Talk and Show

I am almost positive that — even after looking at the beauty of this art, watching The Company, and reading this column — you’ll be no wiser than you were about Nureyev, Baryshnikov or Nijinsky, to name a few of the past biggest stars in the ballet galaxy.

Rehearsal Ballet

You may not recognize names like Dame Margot Fonteyne, or Anna Pavlova, the deceased past queens of the ballet. You may know what the Bolshoi is, but not know its home city. Well, don’t expect me to fill you in with lots of details about those names.

Pirouette

They are simply the most famous and most legendary names from the world of ballet, and the only ones I know.

Tighten the Toe Shoes

And so ends our lecture for this month. You still may not know much about ballet, but at least you had a small peek and learned a little.

Ballet Dancer

Here at The Arts, we like our models to be less nimble on their feet, and we like them best when they are posing for an artist rather than flitting about on a stage. That doesn’t mean that I don’t appreciate ballet – it’s just that when I had an opportunity to see the ballet often while living in Manhattan for many years, I didn’t take advantage of that opportunity. I did see the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater a few times. Back in the days when Judith Jamison was the lead dancer. Now she is the Artistic Director. After seeing The Company and having a look at these paintings, I wish I had seen more dance.

Ballet Skirt

Well, that is that. The opportunity came and went. If you like looking at these painting , then visit us again. In fact, please visit our website as often as you can. No training is required. You won’t have to go to ballet school. Nor will you have to be able to do a pirouette.

Ballerina

Originally published on August 4th, 2004, this article has been updated for publication in The Arts on November 12th, 2009

VERDICT:
7/10 Mean Girls

Cat fights, murder, threesomes, and Bill Murray. Sounds like a winner to me.

Wild Things is about a studly High School guidance counselor in an upscale area of Florida that gets accused of raping one of his students who also happens to be the daughter of the wealthiest woman in town…who he’s also slept with. While trying to defend his innocence, he gets accused of raping another one of his students. As you might expect, his life gets turned upside-down, but nothing is as it seems when your dealing with…WILD THINGS!

Alright, so it might not be the best movie title (I can’t get that damn Tone Loc song out of my head now) and the only reason anyone’s probably seen this movie is because of the infamous threesome scene I alluded to, but believe it or not, all those other scenes you fast-forwarded through were actually worth watching. Who knew?

It had been a while since I’d seen this and it had been a while since I’d watched a whodunit of sorts, but thanks to a suggestion by my good buddy Fred, I’m glad I gave it another shot.

So, the script here has its pros and cons. For one, it’s pretty sharp and is filled with solid twists and turns right up to the very end. Being that I could never write a script like this, it gets many a point in that regard. The characters are also pretty good, the only problem is that their dialogue isn’t all that great. With the exception of Bill Murray, everyone seems like they’re just kinda going through the motions with their lines, and for the most part that’s the writer’s fault. You’d think a hot and heavy movie like this that’s backed up by a pretty well-known cast and set to a score by George Clinton (one of the coolest men alive) would have some pretty smooth dialogue to go along with it, but alas, beggars can’t be choosers.

And I’ll just get it out of the way before every paragraph starts to inevitably lead back to this statement like it always does – Bill Murray’s got the best role in the movie is Matt Dillon’s ambulance chasing attorney, party because he’s got the best dialogue, partly because there’s no one better to get as your comic relief, and partly because…well, he’s Bill Murray. One of those characters that you wish was in the movie more because everyone else is just so damn serious. Lighten up, guys.

Naturally, everyone else isn’t as memorable as good ol’ B.M., but they’re still pretty good. Except for Matt Dillon. He’s not very good here. He really hams it up as the guidance counselor, but I think some of that has to with the fact that he’ll always be Healy to me.

I can’t think of anything else Denise Richards has done with her career outside of her role here as the Matt Dillon’s student/rape accuser, her Bond girl stint as Christmas Jones (really?) in The World is Not Enough, and a god-awful reality TV show on E!, but something tells me she’s gonna have a pretty hard time making people forget about this one. Call it a hunch. Doesn’t have a whole lot to do with her acting abilities, but that’s just what happens when you show your boobs to the everyone on Earth.

Trust me, I know.

Kevin Bacon is also good as the cop investigating Matt Dillon’s case. Typical Kevin Bacon performance. Gets the job done and gets it done well, but that’s to be expected when you have the ultimate last name.

And Neve Campbell is pretty good as the second girl that accuses Matt Dillon of having his way with her, even though she’ll always be Sidney Prescott ’til the day she dies. A lot of good development going on with her character, probably should throw some credit to the screenwriter on this one, too.

Okay, enough about the acting, I’m rambling. The point is that I was surprised that this movie was actually good and it’s too bad that it’s only remembered for “that scene” – despite how nuts that scene may be. It gets a little slow at times, but all the plot twists and saucy liaisons kept me entertained from beginning to end. 

Just one more great reason not to screw your students. Believe you me, teachers, it ain’t worth it.

Con la noticia de que una década después del lanzamiento en cines de Scream, se está produciendo la cuarta parte estelarizada por un asesino con máscara ridícula, las voces y opiniones no se han dejado esperar.

Acaba de salir a la luz la imagen del cartel publicitario de la cinta y, al verlo, me doy cuenta que esta cinta va a apestar tanto o más como lo hicieran las partes anteriores. Baste ver las pocas ganas que le echaron para diseñarlo, ni siquiera hay un buen manejo de luces para que la máscara se vea más apantallante. Triste que se cuelguen sólo de la fama ganada.

MTV continues to get these great exclusives. Scream writer Kevin Williamson caught up with the music/reality television channel and reveals a couple of interesting tidbits for the upcoming Scream 4.

“The fourth one is an ensemble…It’ll take place right now, 10 years later, and it’s going to take place in [Sidney Prescott's hometown of] Woodsboro. We’ll have our three main characters…We’ll also be introducing a little group, a little ensemble of new castmembers. That’ll take us through the next three.”

So a new trilogy has been confirmed. Ehh, could be worse, it could be I Know What You Did Last Summer or Urban Legend. The trinity (Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox Arquette and David Arquette) are all confirmed to return, while series director Wes Craven has only expressed interest in returning.

Here there is the first promotional poster for the new scream movie…About the cast, Courteney Cox, Neve Campbell, and David Arquette are all set to return, but beyond that, they haven’t even chose a director. We reported in October that Dimension was supposedly close to getting Wes Craven back to direct Scream 4-

The plot is nothing new, Mtv reported this: “The fourth one is an ensemble. It’ll take place right now, 10 years later, and it’s going to take place in [Sidney Prescott's hometown of] Woodsboro. We’ll have our three main characters, and we’ll be introducing several more. We’ll also be introducing a little group, a little ensemble of new castmembers. That’ll take us through the next three.”

Ghost Face está de volta!

Nos anos 90, um filme tornou-se um sucesso e ressuscitou o terror-suspense-teen, dando origem a vários outros filmes do gênero. Estamos falando de Pânico, dirigido pelo mestre Wes Craven e estrelado por Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox e David Arquette. Agora, se você acha que a série tinha acabado no último capítulo da trilogia, está muito enganado meu caro. Está confirmado o Pânico 4.

O trio principal já está confirmado e, segundo o roteirista da série Kevin Williamson, a trama se passará em Woodsboro (cenário do primeiro filme) anos depois do último capítulo. Campbell, Cox e Arquette repetem os seus personagens, mas a segunda trilogia será guiada por novos integrantes.

Será que o Ghost Face volta por cima, ou a série deveria ter continuado encerrada? Vale a pena esperar para ver!

Earlier today, Scream 4 writer Kevin Williamson announced on his twitter page that he’s “writing. late night”. MTV spoke to him and he confirmed he is completing the script for Scream 4, and concurrently writing the 5th installment as well.

“The fourth one is an ensemble. It’ll take place right now, 10 years later, and it’s going to take place in Woodsboro. We’ll have our three main characters, and we’ll be introducing several more. We’ll also be introducing a little group, a little ensemble of new castmembers. That’ll take us through the next three.”

The three characters that will be returning are Sidney (Neve Campbell), Gale (Courteney Cox) and Dewey (David Arquette), Williamson confirmed, adding, “We’ll also be introducing a little group, a little ensemble of new castmembers. That’ll take us through the next three.”

What do you think of that? Bringing in new blood for the next films could mean the original 3 will be killed off in this one.

Does anyone care?

“In the final act, all bets are off.” Says Patrick Dempsey’s Detective Kincaid in the third installment of the popular horror series Scream.

His character is joined by a handful of new characters for the new sequel. Dempsey’s Detective is on the case as a new killer is knocking off cast members of the fictional movie, “Stab 3″.

Familiar faces like Courtney Cox, David Arquette, Neve Campbell and Liev Schrieber all return for another go with the man in the spook mask. And one of these key characters will die before the movie is done.

This sequel of Scream is a lot more in tune with the original film then the second film. The second film had more gore and terror then this film. What made the first so enjoyable was its mixture of humor and horror.

And the humor seems to be back for this sequel. Putting aside the classic styled horror scene involving voluptuous Jenny McCarthy, Scream 3 has a lot of new horror gimmicks and surprises to offer.

As is important in all films that try to end with a trilogy, Scream 3 brings us full circle and back to Woodsboro. Diving deep into the mysterious past of Sidney Prescott’s mother, the film brings back the cast and a new secret. This secret is what is at the heart of the film.

What is great about Scream 3 was how it did return to its roots and didn’t hit us over the head with a ludicrous villain like in the second film.

All the new-comers to the trilogy aid to the chemistry and aren’t just fresh meat. Scream 3 is a great wrap up for the series.

3.5 out of 5

So Says the Soothsayer.

Written: February 4, 2000

I have to send a “thank you” to Wes Craven for the movie Scream. I’ve seen my share of horror movies (surprising because sharing is communal and that makes you weak).  Besides that I’ve driven through enough slasher flicks to make me excellent at picking up chicks that are confused – whether their clothes should keep them warm or carpet a hardwood floor – and into edge-play.

At this moment Rose McGowan’s breast are telling me “turkey’s done” and that also deserves a stamped “thank you” letter to Mr. Craven and garage-doors.  Sidenote:  ”I Spit On Your Garage” is much better title than its former.

Before I get too sidetracked, Scream was the reinvention of the slasher film during the 90’s; that’s my point.  The problem is that many hardcore fans of horror – at the time – weren’t ready for this justified, yet blatant confession of secrets… for a lack of better words.  Scream was everything that horror fans discussed, mocked, laughed at, and still defended, but were simply pissed because someone made money off of it before they could; “I’ll be right back.”

As history repeats itself and we all follow in the footsteps of the people that we both loved and hated, we critique everyone and everything.  We eat, drink, shit, shower, sleep, and shave (yes even you); don’t deny it.  Slasher movies run us through the gauntlet of emotions and visuals that can both intrigue and repulse.  Just because you own a two-piece suit or lie very well during your book club, we can’t deny the fact that we’re animals that have become comfortable on the top of the food-chain.  A little bit of tits, gore, and a strong disposition keep us entertained whether we like it or not.

Drew Barrymore is disposed of in rapid-fire succession within the opening of the film.  That broad was one of the selling-points of this movie as its one-sheet spotted theaters around the globe in ‘96.  If Wes Craven had a direct hand in this casting process, well, his next “thank you” letter better be packed with a handjob.  A face like Barrymores (ET) is so recognizable within our generation (if you’re reading this and were born before ‘80 I want to apologize for your lumpy oatmeal) that watching her brutally murdered in the opening act spins shit around; that familiar face won’t comfort you in the slightest now.  When Entertainment Tonight was /film that point in the plot held enough water to rehydrate one of my decent hangovers; not the case since I’ve “grown up”.

I  dunno if it’s alright to dislike or even hate this movie still, but the red wine and unsalted peanuts surging through my veins (I’m more healthy than a healthman) obviously tell the better tale.  Why Neve Campbell’s frumpy self was allowed to be seen as a love-interest still baffles me to this day.  And like normal, there was a lack of werewolves and jetpacks in the film.  I’m also going to start considering how much of Jenny Agutter is in a movie and then deciding its ranking within the history of cinema based on that notion.

Damn… that’s one foxy lady.

Scream: looking back, this film is totally bizarre. A horror movie about ‘teens’ being aware that they’re living out a stereotypical slasher scenario. Aimed at fans of the genre it’s full of clichés and a classic horror references; both explicitly and through visual homage. Although it’s very gory the humor and self-referencing irony ruins the potential scariness of the film. The high level of ‘borrowed’ content also detracts from how unique the concept of scream was. Ultimately, it became the phenomenon that kick-started a new wave of horror films (& parodies) and although it’s a bit self-indulgent, I take my hat off to Craven for continually pushing the envelope. It also left me wondering what ever happened to the perky Neve Campbell and Rose McGowan? An instant classic that’s entertaining, original, quotable and is ingrained in so many peoples brains all these years on. There’s word on Scream 4 coming out next year, better dig out your box set! Do you like scary movies?

Score 7/10